• BLOG

    What role does surrender play in your practice

    What role does surrender play in your practice, if at all? If you are a magic user, where is the balance between accepting the will of the Divine and asserting your own will?

    What is your relationship with the Divine and Reality? Is it a relationship of submission? Are you friends with a much more powerful being? Or are you their tool? What of your power and your agency, and what does that deity think about that? In a religion where one chooses to be submissive to a deity, and accept the fate and reality of life by that faith, that is your last of act of will. Or are you looking for an excuse for not making decisions or taking ownership of your life, your decisions and the consequences?

    What is up with all the questions? That is part of my practice. Free will, implies an active and engaged consciousness. Taking a knee to survive is not the same as rolling on your back and say do as you will even my death. Deities, good, bad and indifferent each have a personality, agendas, and where do you fit in that?

    I had accepted the boon of one God. It was trials and ordeals for 32 years. No negotiations, no consensual interactions, it is what it was. Would I ever do that again, never. And I hope I am not that stupid the next life and hope that there is a support system for me then. Surrender, as in wanting to die, no not enough. Death is only temporary. Oblivion is forever. My soul like many others are adamantine, not a god nor the universe can hurt it. Only ourselves. Was that surrender nope. It was a will, yet the universe showed me the truth of it. Accept truth and reality is always a magical act. It is a spiritual and evolutionary act. So that is what I choose.

    My will inspite of a god wanting to destroy me. My will inspite of another god wanting to manipulate me. The answer is no. Living according to the project path, true or no, prevarication or no, with honest relationship with me, no.

    Will I work with a deity? Certainly, as long as, they are honest and forthright with what they want and need, and if it works for me as well. How many will do that? The only beings who are not gods but cultural ancestors, are about as honest and forthright with what they need to work with you for whatever X is. Yet you own it the decison and repercussions. That is magic.

    Magic always require an understanding of what it takes to achieve the goal. Do you rely on gods for your magic? Great, is it an honest interaction? You do magic without gods? Great, what is your relationship to the world around you as you are altering it? It is all about honest relationship with everything. Can you do magic without a fully disclosed of the hows and whys? With deities that happens often, as often as you buy a product today with out knowing the ethics and sourcing of materials and labor. Did you surrender your attention and responsibility so that you can take for granted that exchange? Many do. AT what cost? Is it free will or is it a surrendering to the Zietgiest of reality, Sitting quietly on the wheel of Samsara, being the plaything of Maya, et all?

    Magic is a tool and process, as much as, filling up your gas tank, honing your art, or construction or whatever work life craft you have. To get better you discipline yourself to the techniques and practices, is not a surrender. Acting through what comes naturally is taking for granted all that you have done, to be that competent, as it is any relationship, active or passive with human, place, deity or things. Magic doesn’t have to be a spiritual act. For many they think it is, when it is a religious act. Taking for granted your behaviors is surrendering your awareness and spirituality. Many do it without thinking, context or pretext. I won’t.

    Even great Yogis warn even with all the siddhis, one should still pursue that spiritual development, enlightenment to an ever higher state. Even Gods are trapped on the wheel of Samsara. I choose not to be trapped.

    No surrender for me. Now learning that the human body, memory, faculties and ego are a temporary construct is it surrendering it, or more to the point it is a fact of temporary physical existence. It is my disciplines, temperament and relationship to the truth that gets imprinted on my soul. Seeing and accepting the truth as it is, is not a surrender. It is the starting place of having an honest relationship with what is so you can make choices of what will be. Be it your will or the will of the world around you. You have to play to make any change whatsoever. No will, accepting the will of everything else, is that surrendering to fate, or the actions of others and the gods. So many people do so even those who do magic, because they are not in full control of the mind, emotion and body, the very tool that we use interact with reality, which can be programmed by everything except your self. Feeling good about our ego’s acceptance of playing the programmed beliefs, may feel like free will, but it isn’t. They fight to keep that programming. The ego is not you but one acts like a slave to keep it alive as long as possible even without personal control of programming it for ones own spiritual benefits.

    I may be buffeted by the storm, but I choose to steer, how much sail to loose and catch what wind. I choose the shore and havens I sail to. I refuse to be flotsam and jetsum, they carry no cargo. I do. I carry my future, the keys to other’s freedom and empowerment, the means to improve my boat, which is just a tool. I will be friends with sea and wind, in all of its faces. I will not lay down and surrender to its whims. And yet it will remember me, and embrace me, when I return.

    Waxed poetical in the last here. I hope it makes sense.
    Archonstone

  • Poem - Spiritual Musings

    The mirror that is not.

    Oh, how the horrors we seduce.

    With flame lips lies that reel in a reality

    that burns the last vestiges of the mind.

    The lips sing of flame and lies, dancing

    in ecstatic cinders.

    The mirror to the world,

    all that is seen is these seductions.

    Each in to dance and play with demons,

    of their own making.

    The daemons of old, Shemayaziqim,

    the iggigi, who sided with people,

    knew too well the seeds were not theirs.

    They knew,

    The father of lies were not among them.

  • Uncategorized

    Energy and the psychology of what I think it may be magic, etc.

     

    How does the brain do or supposedly do all this spiritual “Woo”  and magical stuff?   Surprisingly it is not just all in the mind.     The Yoga axiom of  “Mind, Body and Spirit” is incomplete.    It is “Mind, Body and Emotion in Balance develops Spirit”.  (“Wu” and the character for it in Chinese refers to shaman and energy they uses.)

    There was a question where all this is initiated in the brain.

    Delta and theta waves affecting thalamus, cortex and the Hippocampus respectively. The studies I have heard from a talk given by a  Dr. with researchers show that Delta waves can go from 4 to 40 with healers and other shaman. What is interesting is the theta interactions. What is important is the sensory and motor connections. Also studies show that the heart responds faster than the brain does for precognition, in other studies. Speaking that the whole body and its spirit connections is a “spirit brain”.   We are more holographic in our presence.    Where is this connection?

    Chinese Chi Gong Masters wrote   close to 1400 years ago  “The Tendon Changing, Marrow Washing” classic.       And in the past 20 years, researchers have found that  indeed there is something very special with the collagen fibers that make up most of our body, and does involve tendons and affect the health of our marrow in our bones.     The articles that I have shared below, show that the acupuncture meridians follow fascia planes on the body. These articles are copied whole with annotations to the actual medical journals.

    Collagen is a liquid crystal. It moves Protons or hydrogen ions from one water molecule to another. So it moves mass and charge. The forces in this realm are electroweak and influences EMF and weak nuclear forces. Basically involves both electrons and protons in various ways. What is interesting is that the body doesn’t sense this directly.
    If you change the ion potential in parts of the body it changes the metabolism of each part of your body. You change your metabolism you set up a different tuning, more like a 3d pattern enhancement like tele-porters. (Pardon the Star Trek allusion). Dancing, postures, chants, the whole psycho-somatic-emotional element all come to play to manipulate the bodies behavior.  The evocation of feelings, and holding attitudes changes our metabolism.  Oddly enough every spiritual and metaphysical practices affects our bodies  collagen fibers and all the energy dynamics that go with it.
    Spiritual practices all have this metaphorical and symbolic systems that are highly potent to individuals psychosomatic-emotional dynamic.  Whatever psychological metaphors to manage ones internal landscape is, they are all real. What is important is how you relate this to your sensory-motor part of your brain. The metabolic changes from our own emotional states  affects our Vagus nerve and changes our bodies metabolism. At the same time the physical activity is more tuning.    This positions each fascia bundle. Turning   one on and one off, uses  muscles, vibrating and collagen , our  fascia, can attune water’s shape. Which changes what type of EMF it can absorb and emit. Muscles  have special nerves that are  pressure sensors, so there is also fine tuning of all the body’s antennas. So you can intra-communicate with the body with charge, EMF and electroweak forces, and also, to the outer world. From my study in physics, there is a flux of activity in the electroweak energy and there posits an interchange with other materials. Some infer that there may be virtual matter (spirit/astral). The ranges of effect matches the Reich studies and as defined in Bonewitz’s thesis matches the calculations from an old article in Scientific American for electroweak forces from a gravitational study.  Two ends of this energy is described as alpha up to 15 m and Beta levels up to 1500 m. That said that is a pretty good correlation. This last bit is my conjecture. Until there scientific corroboration, numbers and the correlation is seem to fit.
    The physics is solid and so is the science in bio-physiology.

    What is it about Magicians, Witches and other Energy workers that have burn out, along with the leaders of groups in each of their practices.        You may wish to acquaint yourself with this absolutely unique study.  VEWR survey and study

    As to burn out:             Collagen needs to be managed exercised and hydrated. Ritual, psychic work and heavy power exchange in “adult activities” along with victims of vampires, need to hydrate. Hydration is absolutely necessary to keep healthy.   Collagen as a protein requires water.  It is water and how it interacts with the protein and how the body uses it, is very important.    One of Eastern traditions  speak about attachment and detachment.   Detachment is a requirement and is important to develop high spiritual abilities.    Many western practices and religious practices  attachment is important and being woven into the energy of everything you have into  spiritual intimate connection with the divine and community.  Imagine this electroweak flux weaving a pattern of energy linking up domains of matter and other energy between people and things. Your body tries to maintain an equilibrium to keep your body healthy. If it is hyper-stimulated from everything, your body doesn’t recoup. It can damage your collagen fibers. Collagen fibers and their shape inform your body to heal.  Studies show that if collagen is damaged, it can inform cells to become cancerous.
    Now if people take these patterns into them, that are not part of who and what they are, it damages them over time. Center on who you are and ground out what is not you. For many practitioners, and the type of spirit worker sicknesses that occurs includes autoimmune disorders, along with heart disease, exacerbated mental disorders, etc.. Also this informs the brain and over-rides and causes some of the temporary schizophrenia or psychosis in some. DSM-IV has that listed as Kundalini Crisis and Chi-Gong psychosis as “crisises of faith”, not mental disorders. However there are psychosomatic repercussions to practitioners  that lead to physical and mental issues, if not managed.   There is a spiritual repercussions when Kundalini or Chi-Gong is done too much without the body attuning to the energy, and people not converting the energy to match their own. Laying off and recuperating is necessary,  and not forcing one’s practices, to get back to an even keel. Some practitioners are about being connected. This is a legitimate practice for a core mind. Groups need to know how to tune into the core mind and energy, and yet know how to keep themselves separate from it,which involves Tuning in and tuning out, or learning attachment and detachment.    There is some of this in theory and belief, but I see very little of this in practice.
    What I try to teach is a healthy way to pay attention to this energy, and know what is you and not you.  The methodology of interacting with thought forms, entities or some other astral artifact to have it do work, translate energy and do stuff so it doesn’t adversely affect the body. Astral plane walking I use a separate spirit body. This takes work to build. But it has to align with my energy or it will tear  mine up. Over 20 years ago I had a lot of these forms and it wove me in tight into the tapestry of the northeast. An entity wanted to trade places with me.  That was an important lesson about the trap, the wheel of Samsara and even gods get trapped with their attachments.    I could work magic and read people deeply from all over the area. Make any positive change for me, nope, not-ta, nothing. I was woven tight. I had to let it all go. Those who don’t  loose their health.
    So the mind and body connects with our symbolic way of viewing things. Our energy and spirit body communicates with our body, our body with our sensory motor areas of the brain along with feedback from the vagus nerve, sympathetic, parasympathetic and enteric nervous systems, along with our central nervous system. The emotions, metabolic states and relationship to our body imprint our mind with images and symbols that we manipulate, or Vice Versa.   This gives a rich symbolic system that people use that have their own and cultural emotionally laden concepts to manage energy through the lens of their magical tradition.      I try to see it for what it is.One author’s description use the imagery of a Ham radio.   Take into more frequencies, 3D patterns that move and in time, and have residual effects, we may be getting closer to the idea. I like the Chinese Chi Gong model because yang energy is the EMF side where there is little residual effect and can make the yin, astral matter domain patterns disappear or set them into place or move the pattern energy. Imagine the antenna making a snowball of energy holding, throwing it or morphing it. or simply dispersing it.  I think beyond this, that our body makes patterns and can evoke patterns.

     

    Energy worker health and the use of magical patterns, and where I have used magical patterns in practice.  I have had to shield myself and use natural energy to maintain the shields by a pattern, so I don’t have to tend it all the time. Spring  and Fall, Trees tend to filter a lot of the dense Astral/yin material patterns that people naturally slough off. We sensitives tend to pick it up and internalize it, and try to make sense of it. You can’t it is like trying to put garbage into a jigsaw puzzle. It can make your crazy. Block it out let it go, don’t own it.    A lot of these patterns are not coherent nor compatible with people, whether they pick it up in groups, places or individuals,  unless people do a lot of work cleaning themselves up, this can make them sick and damage their collagen fibers and their own energy pattern.

    Astrological EMF tends to pattern the energy also, along with its skip and sub patterns in domains of patterns.   Feng-shui identifies where EMF comes from, tectonic activity/mounts,  thermal inversions of water and air, the movement and compression of wind and water, organic triphosphate decay,  lightning, the sun, the moon, and the mechanical activities of tree with compression and decompression of laminar flow and stacked water molecules.    That is an empirical metaphysical system that identifies nature’s sources for EMF that can affect individuals.     That is a pretty tight correlation.
    After all that, this is why people use magical symbolic metaphors with complex conceptual overlays into them, so they can manage many knobs on one type of a radio. The third eye works with fascia planes through the center of the brain as does the back of the head. A natural flow of this Yin energy flows down from the top of the head through a person front and backup the back.  This is called the micro-cosmic orbit in Chi Gong. Kundalini there are two versions that people talk about, energy up the vagus nerve the thrusting channel or up the spine or the tendon/fascia/collagen up the spine. Both work. Traditionally it is up the Vagus nerve. They intersect at fascia connections “chakra” and communicate to all the nadi or lo, the acupuncture meridians.   (nadi is from Sanskrit and lo is from Chinese for channels where energy flows.)
    This astral energy that isn’t yours or is yours that have attachments to unbalanced things or other things, cause these bits of spirit to act like resistors or turned off rheostats. Once managed these pathways are managed. Energy forced through them, causes heat, electric charges and pain, and can damage the fascia. That becomes difficult to heal at that point. Too many Energy workers end up being completely burned out.
    Also people who are into chakra play or power exchange without any knowledge of this hurts the people they play with. I think of it as type spiritual abuse (nicest word for what I really want to call it.)  If this is done, and even in the spiritual practices,  psychological aftercare and counseling is needed for people to transition from their long held issues. Catharsis if there isn’t acknowledgement or coping mechanisms for these issues can be devastating to people.

    The applications to magic, spiritual development, energy cultivation, and relationships to people, beings, places, divine and supernatural realms, along with the deep anthropological implications are vast.

     

    Sources: Acupuncture Meridians and energy links  Articles copies and saved in their entirety from Journals:

    Coherent Energy Liquid Crystallinity and Acupuncture by Mae-WanHo

    Collagen Water Structure Revealed by Mae-Wan Ho

    The Acupuncture System and The Liquid Crystalline Collagen Fibres of the Connective Tissues By Dr. Ma-Wan Ho Ph. D., David P. Knight Ph. D.

    Vampires and Energy Workers studies:

    VEWR survey and study

    Conjectures and Facts

    Archonstone

    People Embracing Change

  • Uncategorized

    Shaman, energy workers and Medicine people a Diversity that we need.

    Traditional shaman, who deal with spirits initially, whether from the land and the culture or being so close to death, they are patterns of the same process. Getting accustom to each pattern and living it, takes a lot of personal energy. And it has costs. The ordeal by spirits whether by ancestors, planes or by being close to death, are by happenstances.
    Many medicine workers who are by definition not “shaman” either have talent and or go through ordeals, initiations or vision quests. This however has more of a natural, earth based and ancestral pattern that helps these people center themselves and serve their tribe and or people.

    The Shaman sickness pattern Identified in Siberia and the Asian steppes by some tribes are identified as “white” shamans. There are other shaman that learn by skill and talent and are called “black” shamans (nothing to do with light/dark, good/evil dichotomies, etc)

    Some witch, hoodoo or Voudou paths, speak of all magic and dealing with spirits have a cost. And it has a cost on the body. Personal energy that goes through the body that isn’t matched to a person’s body but spirits and places each have their unique patterns. If we were to fully accustom ourselves to that pattern would probably move completely there. And our bodies would have an even worse time. This is why many shape-shift on planes. This too can bring residual energies to manage by or alter people’s own natural.

    There are other techniques that can people can use not to be hurt by working with these people, places, entities and or things. There are some who are taught aspects in varying cultures.

    For those who have been called to these shaman sickness, madness or death paths, there are medicine people who help them if they want it. And sometimes they can’t be helped. And they work their own path and the energies, destinies and patterns that they are attached to. It is my hope that those weaves will honor them in this plane or the next and heal them and give them an equitable boost in their next life time or their time in between.

    In general, people moving people energy, or highly structured or dynamic energies through their bodies, that are usually not tuned to their bodies, does damage to their bodies. It takes a lot of energy to protect their soul and have a spirit body that maintain their soul in that dynamic equilibrium with body and life in general. This takes a lot of work and many don’t do that depth of work to be adequately prepared. This can be said not only of “shamans”, but of energy workers, healers, vampires, or energy players.
    DSM-IV that classify kundalini psychosis and chi-gong crisis, “a crisis of faith”, where practitioners who do this energy work on purpose but have worked it too hard with out the adequate time and experience to work through the psycho-spiritual-somatic experiences to attune their body and the energies together. The recommendations there follow what gurus and chi-gong teachers would say. Slow down, focus on health and balance, and deal with the after care of the attendant catharsis that occur when working these practices.

    Not all energy or spirit workers suffer illness or madness. The world may wish to impact individuals to that point, but it isn’t necessary. There are balance paths where many work on light or dark, over and under worlds, or ancestors, gods, or the dead. There are ways that mitigate these issues given cultural or traditional contexts, few who follow fully. Many don’t get a choice nor do they have the blessings to be received into same said communities, as few and far between they are. People do the best they can. That cost that people take, is a commitment, that will have repercussions over lifetimes and over many planes of existence. As I teach, I try to give people, newly on their paths and some who have been on a path or two, an insight to the choices and what is going on so they can have conscious control over the choice of their path. Understanding the path and choosing that path, is different than being thrust upon it. Also, how to mitigate and manage that choice. Sometimes there is nothing for it. It is what it is. And I try to support and give a level of understanding for them, if it is warranted.

    I have managed to be pretty healthy, regardless of the ordeals that I have been put through. And some have pushed me to the brink of sanity, illness and death. That isn’t to say I haven’t suffered. Each of us need to have a cadre of path walkers who can understand what we as an individual has gone through. Support, tips, and some times just a place to chew the fat, can help us have a perspective who we are and the sense of purpose of our place in the universe. This is a rare and very healing thing for likes of each of us. Too often we are busy justifying what we are versus seeing the others in the diversity of we can be together. This is a rare thing that must be cherished.

    Cherish each other. In the mix there is a balance, usually.

  • PEC Biographies

    A Pagan Teacher that I am

    And that I aim to be.

    A local leader in our greater Atlanta community came up with some great questions seekers should ask prospective teachers.   I will narrate the answers as best as I can.

    I look at a western Pagan culture that is steeped and colored by Wicca that took its roots in the United States  with the Feminist movement of the late 1960’s.  The idea of god being female and a religious group leader being female was a strong incentive in our country that is steeped in misogyny and a patriarchal  cultural paradigm.        Since then there  has been a lot of reconstruction of pre-Christian pagan beliefs and practices.     Some of it is well researched, and much of it poorly researched.  A lot of it is purely made up with poetic license.         Natural born witches, people of personal power and ability, and groups  had been hunted down wholesale, and whole villages of other schisms were put to the fire, the noose or sword.      Others went underground, in secret societies, and family traditions, keeping in the mainstream, mostly working for society with what talents they could.   They couldn’t advertise and share.  They didn’t have conventions, newspapers or mail lists.  Each was dangerous.    Wicca, by Gerald Gardner, the Sanders,   Richard Buckland and Stewart & Janet Farrar brought Wicca out in its format.   Leland  brought a light of Italian witchcraft.  Sybil Leek brought to light a family tradition, and others added bit by bit.         Where people couldn’t get first hand teaching, they learned by books.  Few lead by spirit.  Many lead by Ego, seduced by the idea of personal empowerment.

    I was born 1958 in Saratoga, NY.   I lived at the edge of the Battlefield until I was 7.    I went out as a child to wander in woods, the bog, the streams, enjoying the world as it was.    I would sing to the birds in glossolalia and to the convocation of murders of crows.     There was one woman that was a friend of my mother who told me not to speak such words until I was much older.      My mother took me to her house once, and I asked about the peacock feather.  My mother told me not to ask about such things.    She told me I could ask anytime I wanted.       Many years later i found out it was an outward symbol of witches for people who were “in the know”.      I never did get an opportunity to talk to her.

    In 1965, my father, grandfather and uncle all died within months of each other.    Two weeks after my grandfather’s passing,  I was sleeping in the room next to his, and woke up early.   I went downstairs, and heard more activity in that section of the house.  My grandfather came walking down stairs.     The world did a tilt out of 45 degrees and back.  My grandfather said, “So long Sonny.”  He stepped off to the side of the stairs,  and proceeded in becoming transparent,  then there was dust, and settled in a pile and it too disappeared.   He was already buried for a while.      As long as I lived in that house, there were these werewolf like things with red eyes that would visit me in spirit form.

    This wasn’t my first spiritual experience.   I was having one  since my first memories when I was around two.    In my sleep and day dreaming I would see two orbs swirling  with a separate center and swirling around it like a golden orb with thousands of points of liquid sand.  The other orb was swirling  in its own sets of centers, each moving.  I have seen it mentioned twice. Once in an obscure reference by a yoga teacher, and in a book by the author of Falun Dafa, inferring it was a protection or an oversight by a spiritual being.    My teacher taught me really what it was, how to create one and why.

    My father and grandfather, went to spiritualist’s meetings in their day.  My mother’s mother read cards and palms, and  taught my mother the basics of palm reading.   After reading a friend’s passing that was a few weeks in the future, she gave it up.    Thirty-five years later I found out those red eyed werewolves were fae, the English called them noggins, that inhabit marshy forests, just like the one across the street from our house.

    How long have I been Pagan?      How long could  I be a Christian when I am dealing with psychic and paranormal phenomena without a lot of ostracization and discrimination?    Many Pagans and Wiccans I know of pursued these beliefs from a need of self-empowerment.   They come from dysfunctional families, cultures  and were bullied by their peers for any number of reasons.  Many faced the misogyny  of the culture.  Being a person of color, or large size (fat or big), smart,  with a control of one’s own thinking and not blindly following “what everybody else does”, gets one scrutinized and abused accordingly.   As a Baptist, I was narrowly accepted.  Were I in the mountains, I’d be one where the hand of fellowship would be “withdrawn”.

    I wasn’t aware of all the cultural shake ups and the exploration others were doing in the 60’s.  I was surrounded by old, conservative, albeit a family of Liberal party members in upstate NY.  My mother was a depression era parent, yet liberal for her day and age.  She knew what condoms were and was popular.  As if that secret could be kept.     Two books changed my life.   I received a copy of “Stranger in a Strange Land”, by Robert Heinlein.  I purchased a book named ” Tibetan Yoga, Secret Doctrines” by Dr. Evans Wentz.    I taught myself meditation and started getting a handle on lucid dreaming, plane walking (took years to understand that), and refined my intuitive and psychic awareness.    I was 14, in 1972, . Due to a lack of any social outlet, I joined a Baptist church.     When you are so out of step from the insanity of illogical people rarely, anything, including adults, made sense.   When your parents and their parents are all closed lip and kept things close to their vests, along with self absorbed neurotic burying of core traumatic events, rarely do you get an honest dialog with anyone.  The neighborhood my mother moved to was an exit community.  People coming out of the city, with all the dregs and hangers on trying to drag them back down, and all those, who no matter what they did, their own impulses drug them and their families back down to the lower rungs of society.     The most social order was the drug gangs and their comradery.   I was not part of any group.          I was an outsider with a unique perspective looking in.  With an IQ of 180 at that time, I had skipped 5th grade.  I was one or two years younger than my peers and had nothing in common with those my own age.   I was 5’10” 180 lbs, when I was 13.

    As a Christian, and as my only known source for any type of supernatural intervention and support, I called upon the only God I was familiar with.  I asked for the wisdom of Solomon, a.k.a. the wisdom of God, and after prayer and a progressive fast of 40 days, I had a vision.   I found the name of God I called and a got a response from was ‘El”.  Years later I learned about the large Canaanite Pantheon, all the predecessor cultures and evolution of this God’s names over the previous 3000 years.     I was told I would be released in 32 years.       I was exposed to more and more things.   I had to learn how to deal with them., not unlike Siberian or Tuvan Shaman learn to deal with spirits.  Here they are, deal.   Most people are familiar with the White Shaman traditions that deal mostly with spirits  and are initiated with a Shaman’s sickness.  The Black Shaman learn.        A lot of learning and experiences happened when I was in the Marine Corps.      I had to deal with a Satanist that had invoked demons,    performed an exorcism and two “soul retrievals”, along with being attacked by demons a dozen times in two weeks.    I got external verification of what I saw and felt by other people with talents.     I learned to do what I had to do.    Otherwise, I think I would be severely messed up.   The basic  exercises in the Tibetan Yoga book, the discipline, the meditation and cultivation of energy helped me to a great degree.  At the end of the two week period  of being attacked,  several of us observed a being that called itself Ashura.   (Japanese war god, and Hindu Asuras (jealous gods)).    The situation that presented itself was that there was either , I accepted this as God’s will,  God was  messing with me (yes he was) or there was a much bigger supernatural and paranormal world out there (Oh yes, very much so).     I was 21 and Pagan was a label that  I had to slowly assimilate into.

    As a seeker, trying to get an education with an essentially dismantled GI bill, going to work, and finding anything and anyone that I could learn more from, was difficult.  The few groups in the area were women only.    We had Marcia Pickands  who was adopting the Sangreal Sodality ceremonial magic methodologies for William Gray’s  version of Kabbalah.     The particular problem she saw with me was that my experiences had already outstripped any of the initiatory processes that ceremonial initiations  had to serve.   My experiences and my processing of them would not mesh with those of that group or for that matter many others.    She suggested I start teaching myself.  This is 30 years ago.    Traditions and revelatory initiations provide a context for spiritual development, just as do school and other rites of passage.     In those cultures each of those have a context.       Shamans have that opportunity.  In Siberia, Altai and other areas, the spirits work directly with individuals.  If they are lucky they have another shaman to help them develop their role in society.  Other types of shaman develop their skills on their own or teach individuals that have the skill, but it is a one to one mentor-protege type of relationship.               I spent a considerable amount of personal effort to understand different spiritual methodologies and experiences from many different viewpoints.    My personal teacher, who I found at age 50, had teachers  from his own family that were Native American, but not on a tribal list and was also  trained by teachers who adopted him in NE California and Nevada, as well as others  in the 4 corners area.    He was taught by a teacher in Korea.     Some of it was traditional, much of it was from a group of practitioners who shared their knowledge.    This wasn’t something typical either.       My experiences and takes on them meshed with his and his experiences, and he decided to teach me more.    I was taught some non-traditional methodologies and practices and most of the common practices I had pretty much knew or had learned.   It is nice to get some confirmation after all those years.

    687 books listed http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Archonstone   Most of which I have read.  Many are resource books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.     Some of the books are on anthropology, psychology, philosophy, religion, practices and other assorted and related topics.

    Books I’m reading  currently, Ba Gua Circle Walking Nei Gong 2012, Kriya Secrets Revealed 2013, Ling Bao Tong Zhi Neng Nei Gong Shu 2015, Meditations by Aurelius 1997.

    I am sure I have read other books along the way, some lost, some pilfered by others, and many skimming through at libraries.  And no, I don’t remember all the book details.  I do try to make sure they are valid,  academic, or at least  supported by traditions, and some hermeneutic scrutiny can be made on the contents of the books.

    I supported CUUPs briefly at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Schenectady, NY in 1990.  I led a couple of the Sabbats, with a third degree individual as a mentor.  He was satisfied that it generated the type of space and energy that third degrees would do.  (With this out of context and not in a traditional setting, it is what it is.  I was glad that the participants found the ritual useful and transformative. )  The UU  got a new minister and the congregation changed its focus to more conservative Christian focuses.

    In the late 80’s,  I supported a group called Heathens on the Hudson.  This ended up being a drumming group, with one woman who was a multiple addict, got into Reiki, and had issues that took control of that group.  The group disintegrated.  I left before it fully degenerated.

    I ran a computer Bulletin Board Service (BBS)  called the Wizard’s Workshop.  It was designed to help people explore what their path may be.   Most needed to know they were not a freak and other people have talents.  No, they aren’t evil, wrong, and no, they don’t have to follow the first  “so called” expert that comes along.  Use critical thinking,  question what these people are about.  Guard their sense of selves, they don’t have to bow down to anyone, ask questions,  and not to feed the vampires.   There were a lot of predatory types in the upstate NY and capital district area during that time.

    One reason why I may have difficulty with people?  My hard life and personal history don’t make me relatable.    I don’t deal with people who lie and take advantage of other people.    It is exceptionally difficult to be in a position to help others, when a sociopath sees that you have good intentions and targets you with their cultivated enablers.        When you are targeted for being male, large, too intelligent, geek, nerd, experiences that no one can relate to,  too young and now too old,  too conservative, too liberal or whatever leverage du jour that  has little to do with what I know and what I can show people.    Lastly, I have gotten to the point where I value my time and energy, and won’t give of myself indiscriminately, to be used over and over by people won’t value what I have to offer beyond what they can take advantage of.

    If you are a seeker, what might be there about you that you shouldn’t use me as a teacher?    If you are looking for an excuse to live without ethics or morals.    Personally, I am an ethical hedonist.  People who look for justifications for bad behavior, don’t waste your time.    If you are looking for power over people.   I am not good at that and even if I were I wouldn’t teach you.  How do you serve the people?      If  you believe magic doesn’t require work.     To progress, work must be done.  There are practices that need to be done more or less daily.  The practices build on each other.   If you can’t do that, then you will not progress and won’t have the experiences where I can help you with a new set of exercises to discover for yourself.    At one  point I become a guide.  Not a teacher.    Once you have experiences that we can relate to, then we will have a common frame of reference to talk about it.    Until then, there is no talking or teaching that will get you there.    And it will be evident that you haven’t done the work.   T. Coyle’s book infers this in her own teaching from the Feri tradition.     As part of a tribe and a community, there has to be a desire to work to some sort of service.

    What type of person won’t fit into People Embracing Change (PEC), the tribe?  Anyone that fails with the above.       Magical traditions and methods can vary.  The ultimate spiritual goals can be vastly different.    What cannot be different, is that we have to sophisticatedly work with each other as family, society, community and tribe.     If you have no respect for people who have been there, and cause drama to tear apart any structure, method, or tradition, then you won’t develop the skills and understanding to be respected enough to actually help the tribe to evolve.     People who think they know, when they are just there for themselves, will destroy a group very shortly.

    As long as there is an interest in the group, I will be giving about 6 hours a week to the group.  Some of that is prep time for the classes, or focus on organizational issues.   The rest of the time is divided between work and family.

    PEC  is still just starting.      Several starts of classes   have been on and off for the past 8 years.      There were two starts of classes where we had self-serving  people come in  and try to prey on others.  This again is in that fragile beginning.   Enablers won’t be supported.  They will be asked to leave with the sociopaths.     There was one group where we had an open, eclectic, social  sabbat group.   There were different people with their own agenda’s all vying to make and hold the group to their influence. It started disintegrating.  Trying to expand the group and functions, the vying to control each aspect and squash what couldn’t be controlled,  caused the group to explode.    The details are only important to describe human behavior.  I have learned my lesson.  I for one wanted to see that type of Sabbat keep going as a social and community event.        I and a few others wanted to add classes and other type of spiritual groups and practices.

    PEC has its organizational outline, it is inclusive with ethical guidelines.   It allows people to have multiple  paths, of study, and development.  In the end, community, family and developing a sophisticated and healthy supportive culture is more important.  One’s spiritual path can’t be devoid of having a meaning in a context with the world and community.  The last time anything like this has been done, is when tribes  have hived off to create new tribes.  From my studies, this hasn’t been done in more than 400 years,  and the last places may have been by Native Americans or West Africa.    So, we are doing this with no current precedence.

    • We are currently planning 4 – 6 hours a month in classes and lectures.
    • Sabbats are run by Elders currently until there are enough trained individuals or society groups, that have been formed have taken it on as a service, rotated with other society groups.
    • Number of books for each level of training.     There are no levels, except what is respected in one’s work and development.    The books to read will be suggested.  There will be no deep teaching unless people put in the work to study.  Depending on the individual’s temperament, direction of study, we will make recommendations.
    • Each spiritual group, whether it is Wicca, Heathen, lodge work, will have their own internal organizational methodologies.
    • As part of the tribe, each member must be belong to some spiritual society for personal development.       Council members must be a leader  from one of these groups, to represent the group.   To become an elder,  they need to experience and develop an ecumenical skill set with different groups.  Show a deep understanding of the group, the people and a sophisticated  skill set to develop leaders and encourage the tribe to grow and work toward resolutions.      Elders’ focus is the growth and transformation of the tribe.  They will cultivate leaders and a culture that can be cherished, transmitted, and evolve to meet the needs of the people.     This is no small task.  They will need to develop respect from each of the Elders and all of the council members, and a trust from Tribal members.  Without it, there is no leadership.  Elders coach others to develop their leadership abilities, to help build respect and on how to work with each other, along with developing conflict resolution.
    • We are looking at some sort of recognition ritual and methodology.  Some of it needs to be managed from each magical society, others by service.  We have ideas, but they won’t make a difference until we all start working together, to make it a working cultural idiom.
    • The structure of the public classes will be based on the published curriculum.    This is to help individuals to understand the basics of psychic development and the different levels of magic so they can decide their own path, and have the basis to understand individual groups,  methods and objectives and see if it matches their own.   As it develops, there will be more advanced classes added to the schedule.
    • All material I have is published online.    My bibliography is listed online.   Classes may shift depending on the individuals’ needs and the questions that are asked to help with individuals’ growth at the time.  As I write, I will keep adding it to the web site.  Other material will be in books, to be read on site.      Individuals will need to invest in themselves, and groups into each other.
    • People can hang out and learn.  If individuals become disruptive to other students they will be asked to leave.
    • Societies that have their own initiatory traditions or revealed traditions, if they desire to be part of the community can close  various levels of training to the tribe and or their particular group.
    • We do not allow illegal use of drugs.   We have respectable jobs and  do not wish to lose our careers nor endanger others careers with illicit behaviors.
    • Alcohol may be available to post-ritual feasts.  In general  this is a bad habit to get into.  We will not encourage it.
    • The Elders and I support polyamory and other lifestyle choices, as long as the choices are about honest and ethical relationships.      Until we start having larger celebrations, we expect people to retire to their own homes.
    • All individuals are to hold each other’s dignity and safety a priority.  Sexual predatory behavior will not be allowed.  Such behavior will be a reason to dismiss people from the tribe.    Adult flirting and other type of behavior as long as it is consensual and not making each other uncomfortable, we are not against this.   Common sense is needed, respect for people checking in each other.  No means no.   We prefer that people use explicit consent.

    What type of leader am I?

    Honestly I don’t know.    It really depends on the people who share the dream.  How I can facilitate that dream?  What other leaders and individuals are there who want to build something greater than themselves?

    I hope I can teach.  I hope I create a passion for developing spiritually.  I hope I inspire people to study magic,  people, society, others, and most importantly to love, each other, the community and a country that needs a better way than what it is doing to itself now.

    If I can’t build a better world with one model at a time, I hope I can find at least one person that I can teach all that I know.     I don’t want all that I have learned to be lost.

    Archonstone.     What is this nickname moniker that I have chosen?  Archon is by a Greek definition an elected leader.    As a Gnostic term, it is a being that heralds a new age.   A stone is a worked rock.   A stone is used as middle eastern metaphor for a person’s skull and sometimes a seed, from a fruit or a grain.       The root letters are similar and can be used as a spiritually laden pun.        I want to be a seed for something that is worthy to be grown and cultivated in the future.   A stepping stone,  for a new eon of human evolution. Or at least a new age.         My original  Pagan name was Witan.  It was a handle I used in the  BBS days of the late 80’s before the internet.      I ran a BBS called Wizard’s Workshop that was dedicated to  magick, philosophy, and religion.      Like any BBS of the day it was targeted by hackers and I lost a lot of my investment from them  destroying my computers from that activity.  The Wizard’s Workshop  was held every other Sunday afternoon.  It helped people with psychic talents recognize that they were normal,  not some bedeviled, possessed individual.  That there were many paths out there.  Maybe not in that area.  There were books and precedents for many things they experienced.    We did some spiritualist exercises that helped hone our skills and gave each other feedback on what was being done.   When the internet  replaced the BBS and there IRC chat rooms,  Witan was a common moniker used by different people, and some very vocal rabid individuals that devolved that social media into another quagmire of drama and mediocrity, and who claimed  I wasn’t who I was.  I chose this moniker for its complex, rich and challenging meanings for me to grow into.  I am still working on that.